Globally, millions of waste electrical sockets (WES) are generated annually. This category of waste material is difficult to recycle because they are thermosetting polymers which cannot be remoulded after setting. In this work, the reduction of medium grade Agbaja iron ore from Nigeria, by carbonaceous materials generated from WES was investigated through experiments conducted in a domestic microwave oven. Composite pellets of medium grade Agbaja iron ore (assaying ~74 % Fe 2 O 3 ) with WES were irradiated in a domestic microwave oven (Pioneer, Model PM-25 L, 2450 MHz and 1000 W). The reduced mass was characterised by XRD and SEM/EDS analyses and the extent of reduction after 40 min was determined. SEM/EDS analysis revealed a highly reduced mass with distinct peaks of elemental iron and this was corroborated by XRD analyses that confirmed the formation of metallic iron. The extent of reduction obtained after using WES as reductant was over 80%. Accordingly, carbonaceous materials generated from waste electrical sockets are effective reductants for producing metallic iron from the Agbaja iron ore.
Globally, millions of waste electrical sockets (WES) are generated annually. This category of waste material is difficult to recycle because they are thermosetting polymers which cannot be remoulded after setting. In this work, the reduction of medium grade Agbaja iron ore from Nigeria, by carbonaceous materials generated from WES was investigated through experiments conducted in a domestic microwave oven. Composite pellets of medium grade Agbaja iron ore (assaying ~74 % Fe 2 O 3) with WES were irradiated in a domestic microwave oven (Pioneer, Model PM-25 L, 2450 MHz and 1000 W). The reduced mass was characterised by XRD and SEM/EDS analyses and the extent of reduction after 40 min was determined. SEM/EDS analysis revealed a highly reduced mass with distinct peaks of elemental iron and this was corroborated by XRD analyses that confirmed the formation of metallic iron. The extent of reduction obtained after using WES as reductant was over 80%. Accordingly, carbonaceous materials generated from waste electrical sockets are effective reductants for producing metallic iron from the Agbaja iron ore.
In most developing countries, careless disposal of waste dry cell batteries and Ni-Cd batteries from mobile phones and rechargeable lamps has led to an increase in some metal contaminants including copper, lead, nickel and cadmium in soils and water bodies. These metals have the potential to cause serious, and sometimes, irreversible health effects if they are consumed. Unfortunately, in most cases, either the water bodies are not treated prior to consumption or the water treatment methods do not target the removal of these metals. This study therefore sought to mimic the bio-filtering effect of wetlands by assessing the capabilities of two common plants in tropical wetlands; Raffia bambusa and Bambusa vulgaris to remove Cu2+, Pb2+, Ni2+ and Cd2+ from wastewater. Spectroscopic characterisation indicated that some of the functional groups on the biomass were the OH, C=O and COOH, and R. bambusa appeared to have more pronounced groups than B. vulgaris. The results show maximum sorption of 95% Cu and Pb by biomass derived from roots of these plants. Sorption of Cd and Ni were lower at about 40%. By using a 3-stage sorption system of live plants, sorption of Cd and Ni increased up to 80%. Keywords: Heavy Metals, Sorption, Biomass, Bambusa vulgaris, Raffia bambusa
Characterisation studies of Oyster Shell (Mercenera mercenera) collected from coastal towns of Ghana and its neutralising effect on bio-leached effluent has been studied using XRF, XRD, Zeta Meter, BET and SEM/EDX. The study confirmed that OS contains high calcium equivalent to about 54% CaO. The OS consists mainly of aragonite (96.1%) and calcite (2.6%) which are carbonates hence OS can be used to neutralise any acid solution. OS is very hard to mill as it has high Bond work index of 48.54 kWh/t. The Zeta Potential analysis indicates that OS will not be stable below pH of 3 and above pH of 10. Therefore OS powder dissolved and raised the pH of bio-leached effluent from pH 1.85 to 6.0 in 30 minutes. The arsenic removal increased with increasing OS concentration. The morphological study revealed that the surfaces of the reacting particles were coated with precipitates like FeAsO4 at pH of 4.5. Consequently, surface area of reacting powder increased from 4.15 m2/g to 75.46 m2/g. In a similar manner, the D50 decreased from 16.69 µm to 7.77 µm for the reacting particles at pH 4.5. Particle size distribution at pH 7.0 showed that the D50 of the OS material increased to 9.23 µm which can be due to coating of precipitates like CaSO4 on the reacting particles during acid neutralisation. Mobile arsenic extracted from the precipitate averaged 6.42 mg/L as against the EPA maximum allowable concentration of 5.0 mg/L indicating that the precipitate formed is fairly stable. Keywords: Effluent, Neutralisation, Oyster Shells, Characterisation, Work Index
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